What Traffic Rules Do
Open a campaign and go to the Traffic tab. Each traffic type gets one of three settings:
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Allowed | Any approved affiliate may send this traffic. |
| Needs approval | The affiliate must ask first. You approve the channel per affiliate. |
| Not allowed | Nobody may use it, unless you add an exception for one affiliate. |
A campaign with no rules accepts every channel and enforces nothing — exactly as before the feature existed.
Traffic Rules are included on the Scale plan and above. On other plans the tab shows a lock icon.
Traffic Types
The catalogue has 20 traffic types in four groups. Types marked Auto-enforced can be recognised on the click itself (from click IDs, utm_medium or the referrer), so the tracker enforces them automatically. The others are enforced when the affiliate applies, because a click does not reveal them.
| Group | Auto-enforced on clicks | Checked at Apply only |
|---|---|---|
| Organic & owned | Social media (organic), Email, SMS & messaging, Influencer & creators | Content & SEO |
| Paid media | Search ads (PPC), Paid social, Display & banners, Native ads, Video ads, Push notifications, Pop & redirect | Brand bidding, Mobile in-app |
| Deals & loyalty | — | Coupon & deal sites, Cashback & loyalty |
| Restricted | Incentivized, Adult | Extensions & toolbars, Sub-networks |
Setting Up Rules
Start from a preset
Pick Standard, Brand safe, Incent-friendly or Open. A preset fills every channel and the default for channels added to the catalogue later.
Adjust individual channels
Set each channel to Allowed, Approval or Not allowed, or use Set all to change a whole group.
Choose enforcement and affiliate terms
Decide what happens to a click that breaks the rules, whether affiliates must accept the rules to apply, and add optional traffic notes.
Save traffic rules
Changes reach the tracker within seconds.
Traffic notes appear with the rules on the campaign page and in the Apply panel. Long legal text still belongs in the campaign Terms on Basic Info.
Enforcement
Under When a click breaks the rules choose one option. It applies to auto-enforced channels marked Not allowed, and to Needs approval channels the affiliate has not been approved for.
- Reject the click and send it to the fallback — the visitor goes to your campaign or account fallback URL. This is the default.
- Hard block (no redirect at all) — the visitor sees an error page.
- Don't block — show the rules and report only — clicks go through and rule breaks only appear under Detected traffic.
Clicks the tracker stopped are counted under Detected traffic. Set up fallback destinations on the campaign Security tab or in Fraud Protection.
Requests & Exceptions
The Requests & exceptions section lists channels affiliates asked for and any per-affiliate overrides.
- Approve a request — the affiliate may use that channel on this campaign.
- Add exception — allow or deny channels for one affiliate regardless of the campaign rule, with an internal note.
- An exception that allows a channel beats the campaign rule. One that denies it forbids it even when the campaign allows it.
Approving an affiliate's campaign request also approves the channels they asked for in the same application.
Detected Traffic & Acceptances
- Detected traffic — the channels recognised on this campaign's clicks, per affiliate, with clicks, clicks stopped by the tracker and a verdict. Tick Only rule breaks to see problems only.
- Acceptances — who accepted the traffic rules, which channels they said they would use and when. The rules are stored as they were at that moment, with a timestamp and IP address, so you have evidence if there is a dispute.
What Affiliates See
Affiliates see a Traffic Rules card on the campaign page. When they click Apply, a panel asks them to pick the channels they will use and tick an acceptance box. They can also request approval for a channel from the campaign card, which notifies your team.
Affiliates can list their usual channels once under Your Traffic Channels in their profile. The API returns the rules in the trafficRules field of each campaign.